


Promises Made, Broken, Mended

by StarfighterPilots (DreamersAndThieves)



Series: Sylvix Week 2019 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Everything Turns Out Okay In The End, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Stargazing, alliance sylvain, kingdom felix, mentions of Dimitri but he doesn't make an appearance, promises are also broken, promises are made
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 18:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21020288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamersAndThieves/pseuds/StarfighterPilots
Summary: The stars are different here at Gronder Field.Sylvix Week, Day 1: Childhood | Promises | Reunion





	Promises Made, Broken, Mended

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the first fic that I've written in a long, long time. And the first ship week I'm going to participate in! I hope to tie all the stories together but who knows if I will. Also a big thanks to Alex for beta-ing this!
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys this lil fic! Sylvain switched sides to the Alliance while in the Academy phase in this, and Felix stayed behind in the Kingdom!

The night before the battle at Gronder, everyone’s big class reunion, was a quiet one. There were two distinct areas where smoke rose into the clear night sky from behind the trees or up on the fields,  _ the other two army’s camps _ , Felix’s brain supplies. It wasn’t that hard; he was sure that even the youngest of squires could have pointed that out. The night was chilly, even for this far south, and the swordsman was glad for it. He was on a night patrol, just to ensure that no one was overzealous and attacked under the cover of darkness.

Soon enough, another soldier comes to relieve him of his position, and Felix starts to head back to his tent. But something compels him to stop and, looking over his shoulder, he sighs. It would be a shame not to look up at the night sky one last time before it all went to shit.

On his way out of the camp, no one stops him. There was no one who dared speak out against his actions. Sylvain was the one to do that, most of the time. Or Ingrid. But Ingrid was asleep and Sylvain was gone. Felix doesn’t know for how long he walked, only that he reaches an open glade within the forest. Upon looking up at the sky, the swordsman determines this is a good a place as any. He unclasps his sword belt and gently lays his sword down on the grass beside him as he sits down. It takes a moment for him to relax, paranoia creeping in from years of battles.  _ There could be someone watching, waiting to strike. _ And it takes everything within Felix to take a deep breath and lay back to focus on the stars.

He’s reminded again that tonight is a beautiful night. The stars twinkle in the sky, clear as day. They’re so far south, though, that Felix can’t find some of the constellations he’s been so used to seeing in Fraldarius territory. Half the constellations he knows aren’t even real, they were all made up from back when him and Sylvain were kids, before it all went to shit. When he was 9 and Sylvain was 11. When one boy was visiting the other, they would sneak out of their rooms and into the backyard to look at the stars until they were shivering. Wrapped around each other because their child brains weren’t smart enough to bring a blanket out with them. After a few times of almost freezing to death, the two boys finally got it through their thick skulls and brought piles of pillows and blankets out. It was a shame that Felix had forgotten one tonight, so his heavily furred coat would have to do.

Sylvain actually knew real constellations, but Felix always had fun creating new ones with him. His favorite was a mess of stars that his child brain decided to connect as him and Sylvain holding hands up there in the heavens. Whenever Sylvain had to go back to Gautier territory, and once Felix was done sobbing about it to Glenn, claiming that it wasn’t fair that his friend had to go home after staying such a short time, he would clamber out into the backyard to look up at that very constellation.

But here, laying out in a meadow in the middle of Gronder Field, Felix couldn’t see that constellation. He found the north star and that was as far as he got. The swordsman was so busy looking at the stars he didn’t hear someone approaching.

“A fine night to look at the stars, isn’t it Felix?” Sylvain asks, his voice light and airy. Felix startles, sitting up quickly enough to get a headrush. There Sylvain was, hands behind his head interlocked together and leaning back to look up at the same stars Felix was not two seconds ago. Sylvain hadn’t changed much in five years. He’d gotten more handsome, yes, also a lot more stupid. Felix couldn’t see a weapon on his person at all. The one striking change were the colors he was wearing. Alliance golds instead of Faerghus blues and teals Felix was so used to seeing on him.

Felix’s hand is on the hilt of his sword, but he stops himself from drawing the blade. Sylvain wasn’t a threat in the slightest. Especially not when he’s acting like this. 

“What are you doing here?” The swordsman strikes back with another question instead of answering the one laid out for him. It earns him a laugh from Sylvain.

“I was actually out for a midnight stroll when I saw a figure bathed in moonlight lying on the ground, so beautiful and-” Sylvain cuts himself off with a chuckle and a lopsided smile when he sees the glare Felix was shooting him. “Alright, alright, I was restless. Can you blame me?”

Simple, and an answer that Felix could believe, since he was in the same boat himself. And when the swordsman doesn’t say anything, Sylvain invites himself to lie down beside Felix.

“Are you worried about tomorrow?” Sylvain asks after a long stretch of silence. There was something in his voice that Felix couldn’t quite pin down, maybe it was the years apart, because he used to be able to tell right away when something wasn’t right with Sylvain, and that was the part that hurt the most.

“No,” Felix replies simply, he wasn’t worried about the battle, or himself. He was slightly concerned for Dimitri’s mental state, and for Byleth since they’ve been trying their hardest to try and get through to him. Maybe it was best that Sylvain wasn’t with the Kingdom anymore, he didn’t have to see how far Dimitri had fallen. Talking to ghosts all the damn time, stuck in the cathedral looking up at the ruined ceiling, pleading for guidance when his friends were right there trying to help. “No, I’m not worried.”

Another stretch of silence. The two of them look up at the stars. Felix doesn’t say it, but right now is the most calm he’d felt in years. His chest is tight, though, and he could feel telltale pressure behind his eyes.  _ Why did it have to be now? Why couldn’t Sylvain have waited? Tomorrow they could die. _

“Hey, Fe? Remember when we were kids and used to look up at the stars like this all the time? You made up that entire story about a constellation being us.” Sylvain doesn’t look at the dark haired man beside him, even when he feels Felix’s eyes on him. And without an answer, he continues to ramble on. “And remember afterward we made that promise? We were going to stick together until we die, and even try to stay together afterward?”

Felix’s chest feels tighter now, he has to take a deep breath to keep himself from doing anything irrational. In spite of that, he stands, grabbing his sword to strap it back on and looks down at Sylvain, who was bathed in moonlight, eyes shining a particular color as he looks up at Felix. “I remember. Stay safe.”

He turns and starts to march back to camp when he hears scrambling footsteps behind him. Sylvain reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him for just a moment. Felix looks over his shoulder at Sylvain, a crestfallen expression etched into the space where a smile always used to be. “You stay safe too, alright? Don’t go getting yourself killed tomorrow.”

Felix shrugs Sylvain’s hand off his shoulder and continues walking, making no promises that he couldn’t keep. One broken promise was enough in his life. He marches out of the grassy meadow and doesn’t hear the  _ I love you _ fall from Sylvain’s lips.

* * *

The battle goes downhill so quickly, Felix doesn’t even have time to realize that all three armies are clashing. The Empire holds the high ground in the center, the Alliance is coming from his left and there are already Empire reinforcements being sent in from behind. Felix belatedly realizes that they should have taken more time to negotiate with the Alliance, Dimitri should have at least  _ tried _ . They would have had the upper hand by now instead of being crushed from both sides. Though from the little Felix was able to see in the chaos, the Alliance seemed to be more focused on the Empire at the moment. Common enemies and all that.

It wasn’t until Felix was drenched in sweat and blood that something really turns for the worse. Dark armor with splashes of yellow appear over the horizon, mounted on a steed that Felix has known since their academy days. He would be happy in any other situation to see Sylvain again after their chance meeting last night but now? Now he didn’t want to be anywhere near the man on horseback. 

Time seems to stop, even the skies open up to start to rain down on them. Sylvain holds the Lance of Ruin in his right hand, glowing sickly orange red as he looks down at Felix. Lightning flashes, Sylvain’s eyes hardened and he moves in a flash too quick for Felix to focus on. The lance is flying through the air, the redhead’s crest etched into the air in front of him. Felix doesn’t feel the impact, instead, there’s a scream from behind him. He turns, dumbfounded as he finds a soldier dressed in Empire reds bleeding into the earth, the soldier’s axe falling from limp hands.

“I’m not letting you break our promise today,” Sylvain states, kicking his heels into his horse’s sides to urge her forward. Sylvain extends a hand for Felix. The swordsman isn’t quite sure Sylvain knows how promises work; the redhead already broke it when he left to join the Leicester Alliance. But it was a first step, at least, Sylvain was trying. And Felix should do the same.

And so he makes his decision; Felix takes Sylvain’s hand.


End file.
